Feathers
by what the fluff
Summary: Richard Grayson is a trapeze artist in a run-down circus. When he has the opportunity to join the most famous circus in the world, he takes it. But will he be able to focus on his own act, when he can't help getting distracted by someone else's more... captivating one. "So, any advice? I've never had a partner." "Just don't drop me", she replied in her usual monotone. RobxRae AU.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi! sorry to all of those who read and reviewed my shugo chara fanfics, but don't worry, I am hoping to re-do them as I didn't like the original ones that much. This is my first teen titans story, so please be nice! I don't usually ship Robin and Raven together, I usually ship Raven and Beast boy, but I had this idea and just couldn't let it go. Just remember though, I'm from England, so if you think I've spelt a word wrong, there are just some words that are spelt differently in England than it is in America.**

 **Summary:Richard Grayson is a trapeze artist in a run-down circus. When he has the opportunity to join the most famous circus in the world, he takes it. But will he be able to focus on his own act, when he can't help getting distracted by someone else's more... captivating one. "So, any advice? I've never had a partner." "Just don't drop me", she replied in her usual monotone. RobxRae AU.**

"I'm so glad you decided to join us here Richard. We haven't had any good trapeze acts in a while, so your act could really lighten this circus up a bit."

"oh, please sir, call me Dick", replied Richard." And I'm most honoured to be here".

"Well, when we saw your amount of talent, we couldn't just let you continue working in that poor excuse of a circus, could we? To be honest, I don't know why you stayed so long".

"Let's just say, there was a part of me that just couldn't bear to leave…" images of his mum and dad ran through his mind, but he quickly shut them out. This was not the time to dwell on the past, but instead a chance to achieve his dream.

"Well, before I show you to your room, let me introduce you to the other performers!" exclaimed the ring leader, Tristian. He led Dick through the white-washed hallways, passing pictures of the performers together. Some were of the performers getting ready in their makeup chairs, some were of them simply rehearsing or out at a restaurant together. Dick walked past the last picture, but froze.

He slowly walked back to look at the last picture. A girl all by herself, staring into the distance. She was beautiful, breathtakingly so. Light, pale skin, that almost appeared grey. Violet locks, straight as can be, and a soft curvaceous figure. He could tell her lips were soft and pink, but unfortunately could not see her eyes due to her hood. However, he noticed, she was not in any of the other pictures…

"Ah, everyone stops to look at this one…" Tristian murmured, slightly annoyed at who Richard was looking at.

"Who is she?" Richard asked in a bit of a daze.

"Just my daughter, Raven. Hell of a good performer but, um, a little," Tristian tried to find a word, and settled with, "cold."

Tristian then proceeded to walk off, no longer interested talking about Raven, but Richard didn't move. How could he? She was almost mystical, enchanting in her own dark way. He eventually teared his eyes away and looked down the hall to see Tristian patiently waiting, but not looking too pleased.

"Sorry sir," he mumbled, embarrassed. Tristian just gave him a small smile and continued down the hallway into the training room. Richard gasped at its size. It was beyond huge! There was a small section filled with gym equipment, and the rest of the room was an empty space with a wooden floor for everyone to practice on. There, in the far corner, Richard noticed his future trapeze act hanging in the air. He smiled inwardly.

"Tristian, sir, is the floor really safe? It's wood, and if the performers fell, wouldn't they be seriously injured?" he asked curiously, remembering at his previous circus the floors were all soft foam to prevent them being hurt.

"I like to think of it as a punishment", Tristian stated.

"Punishment?"

"Yeah, so if they fall over or drop each other, they land on the hard floor, and know not to fail again…" a darkness seemed to wash over him, an evil smile creeping its way to his face.

Richard said nothing as he wondered what was going through the mad man's mind. But then Tristian's dark demeanour dropped and he became cheery once more. He walked over to a set of red velvet curtains, and Richard assumed all of his co- workers would be behind them, waiting to meet the new guy.

"Oh," Tistian started, "before I forget, everyone has a stage name for when they're announced on stage. Because you're going to be in the air a lot, I thought Robin would be appropriate, don't you think?"

Richard thought about it. 'I guess it works, considering birds fly…'

"Yeah, it works just fine."

Just before Tristian pulled back the curtains to unveil Richard to his new co-workers, Richard stopped him.

"Wait a second, so what's your stage name?"

Tristian had a dangerous glint in his eye as he leaned over to Richard, brought his mouth up to his ear and whispered, "Trigon".

Before Richard could respond, Tristian pulled back the curtains and revealed Richard to a thousand different pair of eyes. But four pairs of eyes stood out in particular to Richard.

One had one chocolate brown eye, but unfortunately had one red mechanic eye due to an accident when he was younger. One with bright forest green eyes, screaming with innocence and amusement. One had bright green emerald eyes, round, cute and naive. But the last pair was the most exotic.

Lavender amethysts, small but bright. Long, thick eyelashes sitting above her jewel like eyes. She stared into his eyes, and he just stared straight back with his own crystal blue ones. Both of their breaths hitched as they continued to get lost in each other's field of vision, sinking deeper and deeper into the depths of each iris…

 **A/N: Sorry to end it there! Please review, and that will give me motivation to continue! Tell me what you liked, didn't like, whatever you want! Constructive criticism is welcomed, but please don't be too harsh. :) bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Couple of things I should probably mention. Due to this being AU, their pasts will not be the exact same as the original. So if you notice it's a bit different, I've done it on purpose to fit my story. Thank you mooncutie11, I thought beast boys eyes were originally blue before he changed, but I wasn't sure. I have now changed them to your suggestion, forest green, so thanks!**

 **I'm not going to lie, the first few chapters are going to be on the short side, but hopefully this story will develop and become more to everyone's liking.**

"Everybody, meet Richard!"

Before he could comprehend what was going on, a herd of people in vibrant latex costumes and caked in face paint surrounded him. They each hugged him, but one hug was too tight, and Richard felt his breathing begin to falter…

"Can't… breathe…" he managed to squeeze out.

"Oh, sorry new friend," exclaimed the tall tan girl. Richard looked up as he panted, and had to stumble back and crane his neck just to see her face.

She stood at an impressive 6ft 2, a whole two inches towering above Richard. She flowing pink hair that went further than her waist.

"My name is Kori! I am the contortionist for the circus and my stage name is Starfire and I love the mall of shopping, my pet, Silkie, and I-"

"Don't overload his brain Kori!"

Richard looked over to the person talking. He was an African American and was 6ft 6. He had massive triceps that Richard didn't even want to look at, let alone touch.

He walked over and shook his hand roughly, a wide grin plastered on his face.

"Hey there! The name's victor, the strong man, and Kori over here gets a little too excited with the new guys. Just to give you a pre- warning, if Kori ever mixes up her words, she is still trying to learn English. It's not her first language, you see," victor explained.

Kori just nodded sheepishly, blushing a little for nearly crushing out of Richards last breath, literally.

"It's ok, I like feeling like I've been strangled and crushed by a fifteen story building," he teased.

The other two performers just laughed, liking the new guy and his humour already. "Here," started Victor," let us show you around a bit and show what everybody does. Luckily for you, its practice time, so you can actually see everyone in action.

Richard was guided over to a stage, and was pointed out by Kori and Victor to the other performers. He met all the performer and learnt what they did. A girl named Karen did an Ariel act. He met a guy named Garth who did a water bowl act and he also met a guy named Roy who threw arrows at a girl named Jinx, who had to cartwheel away from the risk of being pierced.

"This is my best friend, Garfield, the animal trainer," Victor introduced. Richard observed him. He was shorter than he was, standing at 5ft 8, and looked to still be in his teens. He had dirty blond hair that had a rather messy look to it.

"Hey dude! My name's Garfield, but my stage name is beast man!" shouted Garfield excitedly, and started flexing his muscles to show off.

Victor just snickered and turned to Richard and in a hushed tone, said, "His stage name is actually beast _boy_ , due to him being the youngest here. He's only seventeen and is barely toned, but likes to think he's twenty and ripped."

Richard just stared at Garfield again. But his eyes naturally drifted away when he noticed a swift of purple flutter by. The girl from before was walking towards the stage, towards a set of two unsteady wooden canes, barely standing upright and looking very unstable.

'She's not going to balance on THOSE is she? She'll fall and break her neck! Wait, what was her name again?' Richard wondered. 'Rachel? Rae… Rae…'

"Raven," said Victor, unknowingly answering Richards's mental question.

"That's our little ice queen. Most talented one here. Does hand balancing on those cranes," Victor continued, now pointing at the cranes in the middle of the stage.

Richard looked over at Raven. She was only a petite 5ft 2, not a centimetre more. But despite her small structure, he could tell she had power over everyone. The way they cowered when she graced them with her mere presence was a major clue.

By the looks of it, she was about to start rehearsing. Everybody seemed to stop in the middle of their own acts just to watch her.

Raven effortlessly lifted her entire body off the ground with just her hands, balancing on the weak cranes. She gracefully did horizontal splits in the air, and cautiously took away one hand off one of the cranes to put in the air, now balancing one hand short. Richard watched as she seemed to float. Her act was too flawless to process.

She then proceeded to expertly swap hands, the crane wobbling a little from a sudden weight change. Raven gently lowered herself back down, being careful not to ruin her beautiful act, all the time keeping her eyes on Richard. His eyes locked on her own, and he fell into yet again another trance. Then she slowly walked off, and Richard had time to observe her a bit more before she went behind the curtain, out of sight. Only then did he come out of the spell he was under.

 **A/N: Please read and review!**


End file.
